Developing Creativity: Both High Energy and Rest

“It is also good every so often to go away and relax a little for when you come back to your work your judgment will be better, since to remain constantly at work causes you to deceive yourself.” Leonardo da Vinci

Of course, everyone can benefit from getting rest and relaxation, but one of the common personality traits for many, if not most, creative people is high sensitivity – which may require that we get even more rest and renewal.

That may be a reason that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi noted in his list of ten traits of the creative personality, “Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they’re also often quiet and at rest.”

He found that many creative people he studied and interviewed worked “long hours, with great concentration, while projecting an aura of freshness and enthusiasm.

“This suggests a superior physical endowment, a genetic advantage. Yet it is surprising how often individuals who in their seventies and eighties exude energy and health remember childhoods plagued by illness.”

He thinks this may be because their energy “is internally generated, due more to their focused minds than to the superiority of their genes.”

But, he noted, “This does not mean that creative people are hyperactive, always ‘on.’ In fact, they rest often and sleep a lot.

“The important thing is that they control their energy; it’s not ruled by the calendar, the dock, an external schedule. When necessary, they can focus it like a laser beam; when not, creative types immediately recharge their batteries.”

Psychologist and high sensitivity educator and author Elaine Aron, PhD advises sensitive people to “Plan some rest time after anything that is highly stimulating, even if it was fun.” [From the February 2009 issue of her newsletter Comfort Zone.]